The Wait Is Over!

lettuce in garden
April 29, 2018

All month, snow and cold, and cold and snow had tried our collective spirits. Because there is really nothing we can do, waiting becomes a kind of surrender. I watched my daughter, Antara surrender with grace and wit as her "spring" wedding day was slammed with a historic blizzard with snowfall over 15 inches! Rich with stories, it has become even more magical and memorable.

In the art fair world, we artists know all about waiting. We apply for much coveted shows -- sometimes two or three at a time, even the same weekend -- to fill the show season. Then we wait weeks to hear the results. Within that space of waiting is the illusion/expectation/imagining outcome, and creating art for the great shows we will, hopefully get into. Results come, we're in YAY! or out NAY… or as what happened to me this year with the dear Marion, IA show is: WAIT LIST. Not in nor out, but in limbo. Waiting...Life goes on and the challenge is to continue to be in life, rather than just in waiting.

Sometimes artists are called off the wait list -- early, months or weeks before the show .  Sometimes it can be at the very last minute. If a show is REALLY good, wait listed artists may even pack up, go to the show and wait -- to see if some unfortunate artist has had to cancel and give up their spot.

Of course, we all spend time waiting -- in the checkout line, in traffic, baby to be born...it is such an opportunity, when we are aware, to find patience, to be present in those moments. Or, if need be, if possibility arises -- to shift and take action. So I decided to stop waiting for the Marion show, and took myself off the wait list. It is the same weekend as the fabulous Art A Whirl in NE Minneapolis -- so now my whole heart and energy will go there! And, in the last week, with temperatures in the 60's -- the earth has started to green, and I've put the snow shovels away!